Saint Luke's Lutheran Church

Last Sunday on my way home from church, I caught part of Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion. He was talking about the 53-year old woman who gave birth to her own grandchildren. Yes, her own grandchildren. Barbara Brennan served as a surrogate mother for her daughter Lynne and gave birth to twins on April 26 in Nashville, Tennessee. Keillor's comment was: "Some mothers will do anything for their children." He then went on to say, "Think about it. Today you can give birth to your own grandchild. Why do we need children? We can just skip the middle man." Now, I realize that grandparents relate to that quip a better than parents do, but I'm a grandfather and I just had to throw that it.

It's Keillor's first statement, however, on which I really want to focus. "Some mothers will do anything for their children." How true. As I watch my daughters parent my grandchildren, I am struck by how selflessly they love them. I am struck by how much they focus on their child's needs and wants. It was not always so. I remember when they were teenagers. Selfless love was not a big part of their repertoire.

A mother's love is proverbial. During a lesson on fractions one day, a teacher asked, "Suppose there were 3 children in your family, plus your mother and your father and a grandmother and a grandfather. All of you were sitting down to dinner and your mother had baked a pie for dessert. What fraction of the pie would you get?" Johnny answered, "One-sixth."

"Now think about it, Johnny. I said that there were 3 children, 2 parents, 2 grandparents. What fraction of the pie would you get?" Again Johnny answered, "One-sixth."

Frustrated the teacher said, "I think you need to study fractions some more."

"I know about fractions," Johnny answered. "And I also know about mothers, too. If there was only one pie, my mother would say she didn't want any."

That is selfless love. That is the kind of love that you are much more likely to see in a mother than in a teenager. And selfless love is what Jesus is talking in our Gospel lesson for today. Because this passage is read this year on Mother's Day, I cannot help but be struck by the parallels between Jesus' love and a mother's love. On the night before he died, at his Last Supper with his disciples, Jesus first went around the table and washed his disciples' feet. It was an act of humble service - an act of selfless love.

Just think of the countless times that mothers do this same kind of thing for their children. Mothers routinely wash their children's feet - and a whole lot of other parts of the body. Mothers routinely clean the bathtubs and the toilets. Mothers routinely do dozens of acts of humble service without even giving it a thought. They do it out of love for their children. And when they do, they are following the example of our Lord Jesus.

Washing his disciples' feet, however, was not Jesus' greatest act of love. The foot-washing only foreshadowed the greatest love of all - which was about to happen the very next day when Jesus would lay down his life, not just for his friends but also for his enemies; not just for those who followed him but also for those who crucified him. Jesus willing gave his life on the cross in order to save us from sin and death - in order that we might become children of God. As Jesus himself points out, there is no greater love than this.

Last Tuesday, May 4, was the traditional Feast of St. Monica, widow and mother of St. Augustine, one of the greatest theologians of all time. Monica was a model of selfless, maternal love. She was raised in the faith by Christian parents but at a young age was given in marriage to a non-Christian. Patricius was not only an unbeliever, but he constantly ridiculed Monica for her faith. He also had a violent temper, and he was frequently unfaithful to her. Their son, Augustine, followed in his father's footsteps - at least in his early years. In his Confessions Augustine recounts how as a young man he scorned his mother's faith, indulged all manner of immorality, and turned to pagan philosophies to try and find meaning in his life.

Despite all that she had to endure, Monica did not become angry or bitter. Rather, she sought to win her husband and her son to the Christian faith by a life of prayer and piety. She prayed for them and shed tears for them. It worked. A year before he died, Patricius was baptized. With Augustine, it took more time. Augustine was 17 years old when his father died. Because she recognized his keen intellect and leadership abilities, Monica had great aspirations for her oldest son. Although not a wealthy widow, she saved and sacrificed so that Augustine could get a good education. He studied philosophy and became a teacher of rhetoric. For more than 20 years, Monica worried and prayed for her son. She was encouraged in her maternal vigil by a dream in which she felt God assure her that Augustine would eventually be saved. This was confirmed for her by a bishop who said that "the child of those tears shall never perish."

When Augustine left to teach in Italy, Monica followed him all the way to Milan. There she became acquainted with the Bishop, a wonderful pastor by the name of Ambrose, who became her spiritual counselor. She regularly dragged Augustine to church with her, and from Ambrose Augustine learned that Christianity could be intellectually respectable. Then one Easter, and at the age of 33, Augustine was baptized by Ambrose. Monica, with her mission accomplished, died six months later on her way back to Africa.

Now, every mother is not as patient or as pious as Monica. In fact, some mothers are not very loving at all. Some neglect their children. Some abuse them. Yet from saints like Monica we can learn how to model God's love in all of our relationships, and we see how God can work to bring life-changing love to bear on even the most recalcitrant and resistant.

It happens as we learn how to live by the new commandment that Jesus gave his disciples that night. He said, "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this will all people know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

What is new in this commandment is not love. Love has always been God's will for his people. In fact, the whole of the Ten Commandments can be summarized in this one word: "Love." Jesus himself summarized the two tables of the law as to love God with all your heart, and mind and soul and to love your neighbor as yourself. There is nothing new about the command to love. What is new is the level of loving to which Jesus calls us. Love one another - as I have loved you," he says. This is a call to love not just our neighbor, but also our enemy. This is a call to love not just those who do good to us, but also those who mistreat us. This is a call to love not just those in need, but also those who hate us.

This is sacrificial love - selfless and self-giving love. This is a love that cares more for the other person than it does for oneself. This is a love that goes beyond emotions and feelings and demonstrates itself in action.

This is the kind of love God wants to instill in us, his children. This is also the kind of love that Christian parents want to instill in their children. That is the way it was for Robert and Helen Simmons. They had a family motto which said, "Love is sacrificial action." This was something that they modeled for their children and something they taught their children. It worked. One day, when Joanna was 8 years old and Brandon was five, Helen took them to the mall shopping. As part of its grand opening, a new pet store had set up a petting zoo in the parking lot, with dozens of little, furry, baby animals of all kinds. Kids paid their money and could stay in the enclosure with all of the warm and fuzzy animals while their parents shopped. Of course, Joanna and Brandon wanted to go.

Helen gave them each a quarter and sent them on their way. A few minutes later, she turned around and saw Joanna walking behind her. "Why aren't you at the petting zoo?" Helen asked. Sadly, Joanna replied, "Well, the petting zoo cost fifty cents. So, I gave Brandon my quarter." Then with a twinkle in her eye, she said something that warmed her mother's heart: "Oh, well, love is sacrificial action!"

This is the kind of love that Jesus has for us. This is the kind of love that Jesus wants his children to have for one another. On this Mother's Day, and throughout your life, I encourage you to look for ways to put your love into sacrificial action - perhaps toward your mother or perhaps toward someone else in your family, or maybe even toward a perfect stranger. It will warm your mother's heart - as well as your own. And it will warm the heart of him who loves you and laid down his life for you. Amen.